Discussion Question 1 - (CLOs covered: 5)

What makes a question bad? Develop three examples of bad questions. Rewrite your examples

so they could be judged as good questions.

The question that the researcher makes doesnot understand by the respondent and

increase the chances of answering it represent bad question of researcher. Bad question is just

leading or loaded and double barreled type that respondent inability to answer it. The wording of

a questionnaire and how the question is asked make the difference between a good question and

a bad question (Hair, 2012). Some examples of bad questions are: -

Why do you shop at Nike Town? (incorrect)

This question drives many answer that the respondent give (Hess, 2001). One possible answer

may be why the respondent shops in the athletic merchandise store, second may be what the

respondent likes about Nike Town as compared to other stores, and last one may be why how the

respondent learned about Nike Town. The three answer are not comparable and anyone answer

may not be sufficient. Therefore, the complete information about this question can be obtained

by asking it in two separate questions.

What do you like about Nike Town as compared to other stores? and How did you first happen to

shop in Nike Town? (Correct)

Do you think that patriotic Americans should buy imported automobiles when that would

put American labor out of work?

. Yes

.. No

.. Dont know (Incorrect)

 This question lead respondent does not give answer. The respondent cannot judge

preferences of Americans for imported versus domestic automobiles. Instead of this, it can be

write down as,

Do you think that Americans should buy imported automobiles?

. Yes

.. No

.. Dont know (Correct)

Do you like to fly when travelling short distances? (Incorrect)

The researcher should use such implicit alternatives questions unless it includes specific

reasons. Implicit alternatives are an alternative that is not explicitly expresses (Brinkmann,

2007). The option of driving is implicit here. So, we can write down it as,

Do you like to fly when travelling short distances, or would you rather drive? (Correct)

It insures that the respondent can give drive answer if they dont like fly for short distances.

References

Brinkmann, S. (2007). Could interviews be epistemic. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(8), 1116-1138.

Hair, J. F. (2012). Essentials of Marketing Research. New York:NY: McGraw Hill.

Hess, J. (2001). The Effects of person level versus household level questioniare design survey

estimates and data quality. Public Opinion Quarterly, 65(4), 574-584.